HomeinIndiana Josef Sternberg's Underworld is a compelling story of three people. Bull Weed is a crude gangster with a penchant for helping people; we see him kill, and yet we still find redeeming virtues. Rolls Royce is an attorney driven to Skid Row by his alcoholism, lifted out of his misery by Bull. Finally, Feathers McCoy winces when Bull introduces her to Rolls Royce as his girl, a small moment that tells us all we need to know; and she doesn't answer when Rolls Royce asks her what she was doing when Bull rescued her. There are also three central scenes in the film: the early scene in the speakeasy, when Buck Mulligan (another gangster) tries to humiliate Rolls Royce; the hypnotic scene of the gangsters' ball, a surreal and sinister gathering of the underworld elite; and the exciting final shootout. The Alloy Orchestra track that comes with the Criterion DVD fits the dark mood of the film perfectly.

rdjeffers Monday, October 18, 7pm, The Paramount, Seattle"Attila, the Hun, at the gates of Rome." A drunk (Clive Brook) stumbles onto a bank robbery "...in the dead of night" and the gangster committing the crime snatches him from the street. Impressed by his resolute character when humiliated and threatened with violence, Bull Weed (George Bancroft) nicknames the derelict "Rolls Royce" and offers to put him "on his feet." The gangster's moll Feathers (Evelyn Brent) and his new man fall in love and engage in a struggle over happiness, or loyalty to their friend, as the coming battle envelops them.Film critic Andrew Sarris described the setting of Underworld, directed by master realist Josef von Sternberg, as "festive criminality." Brook delivers a career performance as the sage with nothing to lose, opposite Bancroft's archetypal thug. Comedian Larry Semon is also featured in a rare dramatic role. Based on an original story by Hollywood legend Ben Hecht Underworld won the first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

MartinHafer 'Bull' Weed is a tough gangster whose girlfriend is 'Feathers'. One nit when Bull is pulling off a robbery, he meets up with a bum who sees him committing the crime. Inexplicably, instead of killing the witness, Bull christens the guy 'Rolls Royce' and decides to raise out of the gutter--eventually making him his #2 man in the gang.Everyone fears Bull--after all, he's a very tough customer. Well, ALMOST everyone one. A really, really stupid crook named 'Buck' is interested in Feathers and wants her for himself. And, when Buck makes his move and kidnaps Feathers, Bull kills him in a fit of rage. Bull is then sentenced to death (though because of the way the crime occurred, this seemed a bit excessive). While Bull is on death row, he gets word that Feathers and Rolls Royce are carrying on together. While it IS true that the pair have fallen in love, they do not act on it out of loyalty to Bull--but Bull is determined to kill them for supposedly betraying him. How all this is resolved is a bit of a disappointment. It's sad, actually, as up to this point it was a dandy little gangster film--and one that actually helped to launch the gangster film rage in the late 20s and early 30s.

plaidpotato One of the great joys of prohibition-era gangster films is the colorful dialogue spat out by the likes of James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. As that element would, obviously, be missing from a silent film, I wasn't sure how I would react to Underworld.Not to worry. This is a great film, one of the best prohibition-era gangster films I've seen, ranking slightly ahead of Little Caesar and the Public Enemy, and maybe only slightly below Scarface (1932). Tough, tense, tightly written--interestingly, Howard Hawks is credited for the scenario--and with gorgeous DARK cinematography and Josef von Sternberg's usual excellence in direction. I barely missed the lack of gangster-speak.I suppose this film was a template upon which a lot of gangster films were based. It struck me while watching it how much it had in common with the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing (1990)--a love triangle between a mob boss, his moll, and his right hand man. And it's all about the gangsters' peculiar code of ethics.I'd rate it a perfect 10, but for a muddled and badly-handled prison break sequence, which I watched three times and still couldn't figure out. Maybe I'm just dense; maybe it was actually a genius bit of filmmaking and it just flew over my head, but for now, 9/10.